The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has handed an eight-match suspension to Tanzania coach Adel Amrouche for making insulting remarks about Morocco.
The CAF Disciplinary Board charged both the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) and Coach Adel Amrouche for bringing CAF into disrepute due to comments and allegations made in the media about the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF).
In an official statement released today Saturday, 20 January 2024, CAF outlined, “The Disciplinary Board found Mr Amrouche guilty in terms of Articles 82, 83, 84, and 131 of CAF's Disciplinary Code and was given an eight-match suspension. Tanzanian Football Federation was fined USD 10,000.”
“I can confirm that the coach of Tanzania (Adel Amrouche) has been suspended for eight matches after comments he made about Moroccan officials in a TV interview,” said a CAF official to AFP on Friday.
Adel Amrouche banned 8 matches
This suspension rules the Algeria-born coach out of the remainder of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Ivory Coast.
Tanzania, part of Group F, faced a 3-0 defeat to Morocco on Wednesday and will play Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo in their remaining mini-league fixtures.
In an Algerian TV interview before the Cup of Nations, Amrouche stated, “The Morocco federation is a proven power in the world of African football.
Morocco manages African football,” and claimed that Moroccan officials within CAF influence the scheduling and refereeing of matches involving the senior men's national team.
Amrouche cited an example where a World Cup qualifier against Morocco was scheduled for the evening despite Tanzania's preference for an afternoon kickoff in the sweltering heat of Dar es Salaam.
He believed this would favour Tanzania as many Moroccan players come from clubs in generally cold Europe.
The 55-year-old coach, who had previously coached Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Kenya, Libya, and Botswana, as well as clubs in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria, was hired by Tanzania last year.
